Soundless Saturday..."Croquet Ends With a Meltdown"

Free of Noise Friday..."Lovin' Those Lips...and Teeth!"

Tongue-Tied Thursday..."Shelve 'Em"

Wordless Wednesday..."Why We Homeschool"

Tight-Lipped Tuesday..."The Master of Disguise"

Mute Monday..."Ice Cube Antics"

Silent Sunday..."Day of Rest"

The Bunny Whisperer

We have an on-site Bunny Whisperer.
Her name is Carrie.
Here's how she realized her talent as Bunny Whisperer.

What a beautiful day to mow the yard in our part of the country. The temperature was an unseasonal 72 degrees with low humidity. I have always loved mowing the yard...I tell Paul that he has his Harley time and I have my Deere time.

In fact, someday I may get a tattoo proclaiming my love for my Deere.

O.K., so maybe that's just some big talk.

Anyway, I was thoroughly enjoying my mowing time yesterday when all of a sudden there was a flash of brown in front of my mower.

The Bunny!
I forgot about the bunny!

Thankfully he made it past the mower and under the blue spruce tree in the front yard. I continued to carefully mow past the tree...and there he was again!

This time, he stopped in the middle of the front yard, distracted by all the yummy clover. I stopped the mower and got within about 18 inches of the bunny. I crouched down and started talking to it. He had no intention of leaving that yummy clover he was nibbling on.

I called for Carrie several times. She and Josh came outside. I told Carrie that if I had a pair of gloves, I might try to pick him up. She found some of my gardening gloves and put them on (because picking up the bunny was really just some more big talk on my part).

Her first try was unsuccessful.
Oh, she succeeded in picking him up, but he jumped out of her hands and into that delicious ground cover in front of the house.

I climbed back on the mower and left her squatting down beside the ground cover, waiting patiently for him to let down his guard.

It didn't take long.
The next time I circled around, she had him.
Patience is a virtue...and, as Carrie found out, is rewarded!

Look at those long eyelashes!



Carrie is obviously in love...



We tried some carrots and lettuce, but he was a little too nervous to try any of it.





As much as we'd like to adopt Skippy (naming privileges went to Carrie), we decided that it would be best to "catch and release."



Lessons learned from this experience...
1. Drive slowly and pay attention while mowing the yard.
2. Be patient.
3. Clover in the yard is a good thing...no need for all those expensive lawn treatments.

And here's one that Paul shared with me that I've never heard.

4. Baby bunnies can be scared to death (#34).

Wow, Paul, I'd never heard that.

5. Paul never ceases to amaze me.

We Interrupt This Blog...

for this wildlife moment.

I know this may not be the most engaging and entertaining blog post I've written, but I just had to share what's going on in our yard!

Here is a bird that we've not ever seen before.

Paul looked out the kitchen window on July 4th and asked if I knew what kind of it was.
We figured it was some type of woodpecker since it was, uh, pecking at wood. :)
I looked it up in our bird book and found that it is a Yellow-Shafted Flicker. The two we saw in our backyard that morning were hunting around at the base of the trees for ants.

Good for them! Eat all the ants you'd like!

What pretty markings!
Can you see the red patch on the back of his head?








And here's our little bunny.

Since Jack ran away early in the spring, we've seen a lot more wildlife in our yard...including bunnies...and snakes...but we we'll not talk about the snakes. Maybe if we don't talk about them, they'll go away.

Anyway, here is a bunny who has continued to live at our house even after his family has left. Last night Paul saw him hop across the front yard and land in the ground cover in front of the house. I guess he likes to dine on it.



Forgive me for the background music.
Dumb song.
Anytime I see a bunny, that song just escapes from my lips!
I figured, why fight it?
So, now I invite you into my Veggie Tale created "warpedness."



Isn't he sweet?



And while I'm on the subject of wildlife, I just have to tell you what Josh calls Lightning Bugs...

THUNDER BUGS!

He was trying to tell me that he saw some lightning bugs outside, and that was the association he made.

I love it. I think I may always refer to them as Thunder Bugs now.

Wordless Wednesday..."I Sure Admire Your Antenna!"

The Donut Chronicles

Paul works a lot of weekends, so it's always a treat when we find out that he doesn't have to work.

And would you believe that when he doesn't have to work, he usually makes breakfast for us?!

Well, O.K....so he doesn't really "make" it.
But he does take care of it for us.

There's nothing like Marsh donuts!

Hmmm....
Nothing left of Joshua's donut.
Where could it have gone?
Just a few clues to go by...around his mouth...




and on his fingers.



Matthew can't really decide what to do with a whole donut.
In the past, I've cut his into little pieces.
Go ahead, Matty, dig in!

He's a bit cautious...maybe just a little sprinkle to start with.



Ah...he's thinking about having some more.



Maybe one more sprinkle.



That's not at all how I eat my donuts.
Josh either.

Ketchup, though, is a different story.
But that's a story for another day.

For Uncle Brian...

Uncle Brian sent this this video to us via email because he knew that Josh would enjoy it. In fact, he said, "Show this to Joshie, he will laugh."

Uncle Brian, you were absolutely correct!




I wish that I would have had my camera going from the very beginning of the video. He giggled and giggled while watching. When the video was over, he asked to watch it again and even went to pause what he was watching on TV.

Now he is bugging me to death to go wake Carrie so that she can watch it with him and hovering at my elbow asking to watch "that bideo" again.

Since he can maneuver my blog pretty well,I thought that I would post it here so that he can watch it on his own.

And so that you can see what was so very funny!




The cutest thing is that he just said to me, "Isn't it cool that they can do that?"

I'm thinking that he is going to have some mighty high expectations for Matty.
I better keep a close eye on those two today.

Where There Are Kids...

You remember those first years of marriage...just you and the love your life.
I look back at those years as the beginning of our family.
Paul and I made some very special memories, and without even thinking about it, we were working with God to lay the foundation for our family.

Days of just spending time together...getting to know each other.
Days made for beginning our own traditions as a new family.

And remember those first holidays with a new baby?
What fun! It was like being a kid all over again!
And as long as there are children in the house (kids, grandkids, great-grandkids...), Paul and I get to be kids everyday.

Every holiday, especially, is so exciting and so much fun to plan for!

Fourth of July is one of those exciting, fun days!

Where there are kids, there is fun!